Are We Obsessed or Crazy...

[wintremute]

Yeah, I can't believe anyone would choose DW over Ludwig. That is pointless! I have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

[guitarflinger]

Try getting into long range rifle shooting. The level of obsession there can take all the fun out of it if you aren't careful. Any hobby is like that though if you take it that far.

Not to mention fly fishing. You need an 810 sized cabinet just for the flies. Then there's rods, reels, line, leader, tippit, tying tools, floatant, waders, clothing, hats, sunglasses, boats, etc.

 

[hintz]

Yes, other musicians geek out on stuff, but in different ways.
Guitarists are superstitious mystics that assign otherworldly properties to their instrument. Go to any Les Paul discussion group and you will see the musical equivalent of a discussion about early Catholic catechism. They obsess about everything right down to the braiding on the leads connecting their pots or the exact type of capacitors being used.
Drummers are sort of like the mad engineers of the musical world because they have to deal with a lot more physical mechanics than anyone else. If you look at the combination of physics that go in to just a tom or cymbal, its pretty impressive, and they get all up in that. The wood of their shells, the sizes, the alloys the cymbals are made of, the gears in their pedals, proper baffling, etc.
Bass players are a little different, and a TB bass player even more so. A lot of bassists I meet in the "real world" at gigs don't know or care a lot about their gear. They either have what they can afford or what seems right (ie A Fender with an Ampeg.) In the 6 years I've been with TB I feel like I've discovered the "Deep Web" people are always talking about; some kind of a murky underworld of unearthed arcana to be secretly studied and jealously protected. 80% of the brands of basses, speakers, amps, and pedals I see here only exist here. Dingwall, Roscoe, or Stambaugh? Never heard of them. Bergantino or fEARFUL? What's that. Any pedal that isn't a Boss or a EHX? Huh?

So are bass players in general more obsessed with their tone than other musicians? I don't think so. Are TB players psychos that live in an alternate reality where the Goblin King has an endless treasure trove of fascinating gizmos? Yes.

That's on the money!! Example, pedals....very few real world bassist even know of say Darkglass or Fairfield circuitry, nor do they care...most guys know about sansamp, dod, boss, etc, and as much as myself and others here obsess over over boutique builders, these names don't mean much to the average gigging musician, outside of TB ive yet to see a bar band bassist with a PT Pro......

of course I didn't know about most of the gear I recently read or tried until I got here

 

[10cc]

Bass isn't nothing compared to recording gear. There are so many goodies for the studio world and also believe it or not but the hardcore vapers (E-Cig dudes) are more over the top than anyone

 

[socialleper]

Bass isn't nothing compared to recording gear. There are so many goodies for the studio world and also believe it or not but the hardcore vapers (E-Cig dudes) are more over the top than anyone

YES!!
Recording gear can be nuts, but there is often a good reason. If you remove our familiarity from what recording is it would look like black magic. Getting just the right preamps, boards, mics, software, etc really makes the difference between just a recording and a incredible recording.

 

[socialleper]

That's on the money!! Example, pedals....very few real world bassist even know of say Darkglass or Fairfield circuitry, nor do they care...most guys know about sansamp, dod, boss, etc, and as much as myself and others here obsess over over boutique builders, these names don't mean much to the average gigging musician, outside of TB ive yet to see a bar band bassist with a PT Pro......

of course I didn't know about most of the gear I recently read or tried until I got here

The pedals are one of the more prevalent to me too, probably because they are so much cheaper. I found out about Darkglass from Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse, and at the time it seemed like a strange mystery device. Around here people are just like "yeah sure, use a B3K."
The conversations about fuzz pedals just blow my mind. Just when I think I've found something as obscure as Wren and Cuff, I get one upped with a Cog Effects or Dunwich Amps. Its just a bottomless pit. When I'm out playing I NEVER seen anything being used by guitarists or bass players that is as exotic as the stuff that is being idly thrown around here. My guitarists, who really should be the one's all geeked over pedals, don't know anything about any of these pedals. They just use the gain channels from their Marshall heads and OD made by Boss or Behringer.

 

[zontar]

I agree with those who say that guitar players are more obsessed, & I say that for two reasons:
1-That's ben my experience--way more obsession by guitar players
2-I am a guitar player